CO. Marijuana legalization: "[Gary] Johnson's supporters are deftly leveraging all hoopla around the marijuana initiative to sharpen their candidate's appeal and message to disaffected Democrats. Is this a brilliant GOP conspiracy theory? In other words, is the libertarian candidate deliberately trying to help Romney, as Obama partisans will no doubt grouse? Almost certainly not, as Johnson is no fan of Romney. Nobody should be surprised that having been betrayed, many of those D-leaning voters who supported Obama in 2008 specifically because of his position on the Drug War may look for an alternative in 2012." (David Sirorta; MA).

LA. Oil: "About 565,000 pounds of oiled material from the Deepwater Horizon spill was brought to the surface by Hurricane Isaac, more than had been collected in eight months before the storm, the state's coastal protection agency said Wednesday. Overall, about 4.9 million barrels of oil spilled into the gulf during the Deepwater Horizon disaster and 1 million barrels are still unaccounted for." (Apparently, a barrel of oil is around 300 pounds.)=

ME. Ladies of negotiable affection: "Police say [Mark Strong, the man accused of booking clients at the Pura Vida Studio owned by Wright[ helped run Wright's alleged side prostitution business and helped video-tape her clients. Prosecutors say they have 100 hours of video evidence." IIRC, solicitation is a misdemeanor. Is blackmail a felony? ... Ladies of negotiable affection: "Three police detectives are working full time going through the evidence seized in the investigation of an alleged prostitution business, with the probe expected to continue for a few more months, increasing the overtime expense for the town." .... Corruption: "[Stephen Bowen, ME's education commissioner,] was preparing an aggressive reform [sic] drive to dramatically expand and deregulate online education in ME. 'I have no 'political' staff who I can work with to move this stuff through the process,' he emailed [Patricia Levesque]. Levesque replied [that FL Gov. Jeb Bush's Foundation for Excellence in Education] would be happy to suggest policies, write laws and gubernatorial decrees, and develop strategies to ensure they were implemented."

OH. Fracking: "[Youngstown City Councillor Annie] Gillam says the city has four thousand acres of land and is looking at leasing a tenth of that; which would raise two-to-three million dollars. 'People are getting around $5-thousand an acre; but it could be more. I understand some Utica shale deposits are getting close to eight thousand.'" Well, I'm sure that covers the externalities! ... Early voting: "The state's elections chief says close to 407,000 Ohioans have already voted in the key presidential battleground."

TX. Pipelines: "'This is not about the money,' said [Julia Trigg Crawford], who notes that TransCanada's final offer of $20,000 amounts to less than $1 a day over 60 years, less time than her family has been on the land. 'This is about the right of a landowner to control what happens on their land."

WY. Coal: University of Wyoming officials sped up the removal of a controversial anti-coal sculpture because of the furor it caused [with angry state legislators, energy industry donors and trade group representatives], but chose to tell the public the removal was as scheduled and because of water damage, emails show." Well, no harm done. I'm sure the public assumed the university administrators were lying anyhow.

Outside baseball. Fracking: "[Hearst Media banned] all comments using the word fracking [which] effectively prevents a large segment of the populace from exercising their First Amendment right. That is convenient for industry." ... Food stamps: "Calculating someone's eligibility for food assistance takes into consideration many factors: income, medical expenses, utility costs and other amounts. For the first time in many years federal government opted to change that utility deduction. So for many people, that means they'll get about $35 less a month, starting in November." Because socialism!

The trail. Gaslighting: "A suspected terrorist parked a van packed with what he thought* was a 1,000-pound bomb next to the Federal Reserve building in Lower Manhattan and tried to detonate it Wednesday morning before he was arrested in a terror sting operation, authorities said. [* No doubt because his Stasi handlers told him that."] ... Walmart moms: "'Some of the points he was making, I had to compare to the last four years,' one woman said. 'We had a lot of hope, but I was left thinking, 'Hmm, I'm not sure the next four years are going to be much different.' 'I was actually comforted,' another woman elaborated. 'Obama knows what went wrong, and he kind of knows how to fix it.'" "Actually..." .... White males undecideds: "'I've been online checking them out, and I honestly think they both suck. They'll lie to get your vote,' [Larry Bushnell] said." ... Losing the political class: Check out this photo. You see photos like this of Romney all the time; very rarely of Obama. ... Polls: "Obama's chances of winning the Electoral College were 64.8% as of Tuesday's FiveThirtyEight forecast, down slightly from 66.0% on Monday. The forecast will not yet reflect any effects from Tuesday night's debate." (Nate Silver).

CO. Marijuana legalization: "[Gary] Johnson's supporters are deftly leveraging all hoopla around the marijuana initiative to sharpen their candidate's appeal and message to disaffected Democrats. Is this a brilliant GOP conspiracy theory? In other words, is the libertarian candidate deliberately trying to help Romney, as Obama partisans will no doubt grouse? Almost certainly not, as Johnson is no fan of Romney. Nobody should be surprised that having been betrayed, many of those D-leaning voters who supported Obama in 2008 specifically because of his position on the Drug War may look for an alternative in 2012." (David Sirorta; MA).

LA. Oil: "About 565,000 pounds of oiled material from the Deepwater Horizon spill was brought to the surface by Hurricane Isaac, more than had been collected in eight months before the storm, the state's coastal protection agency said Wednesday. Overall, about 4.9 million barrels of oil spilled into the gulf during the Deepwater Horizon disaster and 1 million barrels are still unaccounted for." (Apparently, a barrel of oil is around 300 pounds.)=

ME. Ladies of negotiable affection: "Police say [Mark Strong, the man accused of booking clients at the Pura Vida Studio owned by Wright[ helped run Wright's alleged side prostitution business and helped video-tape her clients. Prosecutors say they have 100 hours of video evidence." IIRC, solicitation is a misdemeanor. Is blackmail a felony? ... Ladies of negotiable affection: "Three police detectives are working full time going through the evidence seized in the investigation of an alleged prostitution business, with the probe expected to continue for a few more months, increasing the overtime expense for the town." .... Corruption: "[Stephen Bowen, ME's education commissioner,] was preparing an aggressive reform [sic] drive to dramatically expand and deregulate online education in ME. 'I have no 'political' staff who I can work with to move this stuff through the process,' he emailed [Patricia Levesque]. Levesque replied [that FL Gov. Jeb Bush's Foundation for Excellence in Education] would be happy to suggest policies, write laws and gubernatorial decrees, and develop strategies to ensure they were implemented."

OH. Fracking: "[Youngstown City Councillor Annie] Gillam says the city has four thousand acres of land and is looking at leasing a tenth of that; which would raise two-to-three million dollars. 'People are getting around $5-thousand an acre; but it could be more. I understand some Utica shale deposits are getting close to eight thousand.'" Well, I'm sure that covers the externalities! ... Early voting: "The state's elections chief says close to 407,000 Ohioans have already voted in the key presidential battleground."

TX. Pipelines: "'This is not about the money,' said [Julia Trigg Crawford], who notes that TransCanada's final offer of $20,000 amounts to less than $1 a day over 60 years, less time than her family has been on the land. 'This is about the right of a landowner to control what happens on their land."

WY. Coal: University of Wyoming officials sped up the removal of a controversial anti-coal sculpture because of the furor it caused [with angry state legislators, energy industry donors and trade group representatives], but chose to tell the public the removal was as scheduled and because of water damage, emails show." Well, no harm done. I'm sure the public assumed the university administrators were lying anyhow.

Outside baseball. Fracking: "[Hearst Media banned] all comments using the word fracking [which] effectively prevents a large segment of the populace from exercising their First Amendment right. That is convenient for industry." ... Food stamps: "Calculating someone's eligibility for food assistance takes into consideration many factors: income, medical expenses, utility costs and other amounts. For the first time in many years federal government opted to change that utility deduction. So for many people, that means they'll get about $35 less a month, starting in November." Because socialism!

The trail. Gaslighting: "A suspected terrorist parked a van packed with what he thought* was a 1,000-pound bomb next to the Federal Reserve building in Lower Manhattan and tried to detonate it Wednesday morning before he was arrested in a terror sting operation, authorities said. [* No doubt because his Stasi handlers told him that."] ... Walmart moms: "'Some of the points he was making, I had to compare to the last four years,' one woman said. 'We had a lot of hope, but I was left thinking, 'Hmm, I'm not sure the next four years are going to be much different.' 'I was actually comforted,' another woman elaborated. 'Obama knows what went wrong, and he kind of knows how to fix it.'" "Actually..." .... White males undecideds: "'I've been online checking them out, and I honestly think they both suck. They'll lie to get your vote,' [Larry Bushnell] said." ... Losing the political class: Check out this photo. You see photos like this of Romney all the time; very rarely of Obama. ... Polls: "Obama's chances of winning the Electoral College were 64.8% as of Tuesday's FiveThirtyEight forecast, down slightly from 66.0% on Monday. The forecast will not yet reflect any effects from Tuesday night's debate." (Nate Silver).